I know that the common porcedure for sword making is to leave the tang without a heat treat. I was wondering if treating the tang would be detrimental to the harmonic characteristics of the sword or if it would make no difference either way. MY gut feeling is that it would impact the way the sword transfers energy to the handle, but I would love to hear from our smiths on this one. What would happen with a nice springy, heat treated tang?

Joel

Hello Joel

Hope you are doin well.

I think that both options are seen in period swords. The tang being hardened will adjust some of the dynamics of a sword but it is fairly minimal. It gets to a point where one has a measureable difference but a difference no one can discern by feel or useage.

This is one of those issues where the hand on the grip almost certainly has more impact on the swords capabilities than the function of the hardness of the tang being different in a 3 to 6 inch range. I believe some makers do use a hardened tang construct but it should not effect the attributes of the sword unless it is hardened to a point to cause weak ponts of stress in the sword.

Hardness is one of those things that is a great thing in moderation. As a T-shirt I had once said, "Every Thing in Moderation except Moderation"

Best
Craig